Dan Telvock

Dan Telvock is Investigate Post's environmental reporter. A native of the Finger Lakes region, he was an award-winning newspaper reporter in Virginia for 13 years, including stints at The Free Lance-Star in Fredericksburg and The Winchester Star, before joining Investigative Post. He founded and operated The Landry Hat, a blog that covered the Dallas Cowboys, from 2005 to 2008, while also working as a reporter.

Aug 16

2013

Rising sea levels could submerge 316 towns and cities

There’s enough greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere to raise the sea level in North America by more than 4 feet and flood hundreds of coastal cities and towns at high tide. When the submersions could happen is unclear but that’s the conclusion of Ben Strauss, a scientist with Climate Central, a nonprofit group of scientists and journalists who report on the world’s changing climate. Strauss predicted the sea level rise using a study from Anders Levermann, of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, who found that every degree of global warming caused by carbon pollution equals 4.2 feet of sea level rise in[...]

Posted 11 years ago

Aug 14

2013

This is a combined sewer overflow, Buffalo

H2 Oh No! from the Center for Urban Pedagogy on Vimeo. I’ve blogged on GreenPost about a dozen times on combined sewer overflows here in Buffalo, but what has been more challenging is coming up with a way to visually show you the problem. Thanks to the Center for Urban Pedagogy, I can now feel at ease because they’ve done it for me with this short video showing how a combined sewer system works. The Buffalo Sewer Authority has 52 permitted combined sewer overflow points into various local waterways. According to the Alliance for the Great Lakes, the city’s combined[...]

Posted 11 years ago

Aug 1

2013

Environmental regulators slow on the draw (again)

The Department of Environmental Conservation has ordered Covanta Niagara to stop construction of a natural gas boiler and a 190-foot smokestack in Niagara Falls because it hasn’t obtained the required air permit. Covanta, which has spent more than $820,000 over the past three years in campaign contributions and lobbying expenses, started construction months before the public comment period on the project closes on Monday. The notice of violation came less than 48 hours after three Niagara County residents raised concerns about the the DEC’s oversight of the Niagara County waste-to-energy plant’s $30 million expansion project, as first reported by the[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Jul 25

2013

WNY has 3 of state’s worst greenhouse gas polluters

The 650-foot smokestack at the Somerset coal-fired power plant in Niagara County billows plumes of smoke carrying greenhouse gases that can be seen on a clear day all the way across Lake Ontario in Toronto. The amount — 3.8 million tons in 2011 — makes the coal plant the top greenhouse gas polluter in New York State. That’s equivalent to the emissions from 712,893 cars annually. Western New York has two other facilities that rank in the state’s top 10 of greenhouse gas polluters: coal-fired power plants CR Huntley in the Town of Tonawanda and NRG Dunkirk in the City[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Jul 11

2013

Air pollution linked to lung cancer, heart failure

Air pollution can cause lung cancer and increase the risk of heart failure, according to two studies published Tuesday in The Lancet Journal. The first study found that extended exposure to particulate air pollution commonly called soot can increase the risk of lung cancer even at concentrations below European Union limits, which are stricter than U.S. limits in some instances. The research led the authors to question whether there are safe levels of air pollution. The second study found that heart failure or death was associated with increases in a number of air pollutants. These studies have some meaning locally[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Jul 1

2013

Tests not best gauge of beach pollution

Tests used to determine if water at beaches is safe to swim in may not be accurate, according to a new study from the University at Buffalo and Mercyhurst University. The problem: The most commonly used test fails to distinguish from toxic and more benign forms of contaminants. As a result, authorities sometimes close beaches when they don’t need to, or keep them open when they shouldn’t. Health departments in Erie, Niagara and Chautauqua counties take water samples from 22 beaches – Erie on a daily basis at six major beaches – and test for fecal coliform and E. coli.[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Jun 21

2013

DEC’s sewage discharge reports lack details

The intent of the Sewage Pollution Right to Know law passed 10 months ago was to inform state residents within four hours of sewage overflows into waterways to protect them from the dangers of swimming or fishing in tainted water. Not only would residents know the estimated amount of all overflows, they would know where it happened, the duration, what time, the reason and a description of steps taken to control it from happening again. But only half of the disclosure is happening 45 days since the law went into effect. The Department of Environmental Conservation and environmental advocates are[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Jun 17

2013

Buffalo misses big savings with food compost

Some critics of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg say he hasn’t done enough to boost his city’s recycling rate. Similar criticism has been aimed at Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown, whose administration has seen some modest success with the green totes rolled out in December 2011 and a recycling coordinator hired last month after a four year vacancy. Neither city has been able to reach the national average rate for recycling of 34 percent. Buffalo’s curbside recycling rate for 2012 was 12.2 percent; New York City’s rate is about 15 percent. Bloomberg isn’t settling for below average. He started a pilot[...]

Posted 12 years ago